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This holiday season, watch out for dangerous and toxic toys. TexPIRG’s 33rd annual Trouble in Toylandreport found toxic amounts of boron in slime products and a failure by Amazon to appropriately label choking hazards. Boron can cause nausea, vomiting and other health issues.

“No one should worry about whether or not the toy they’re buying is toxic or dangerous. But in 2018, we’re still finding hazards in some of the most popular toys. Toy manufacturers must do better to ensure their products are safe before they end up in children’s hands and mouths,” said Bay Scoggin, TexPIRG Director.

Today, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality released the state’s Volkswagen Beneficiary Mitigation Plan, which will allocate funds to expand clean transportation in the state. After the public comment period, the TCEQ made several promising changes to their original draft, released earlier this year. In addition to increasing the transparency of the fund distribution process, the final version of the plan increased the percentage of costs covered for government-owned vehicle replacement from 60% to 80%. This increase will make it easier for transit agencies to invest in zero-emission all-electric buses, helping improve public health and air quality. The new plan increased funding to certain cities like Dallas and Austin, while El Paso and San Antonio saw their share of the funding reduced.

AUSTIN-- Two growing burger chains, Shake Shack and BurgerFi, stand out from the herd when it comes to serving beef raised without the routine use of antibiotics in the burger industry. They were the only restaurants to earn an “A” on the fourth annual Chain Reaction scorecard released today by six major consumer and environmental organizations. The vast majority of hamburger chains — 22 of the top 25, including giants such as McDonald’s and Whataburger — got an “F” grade because they lack established policies restricting antibiotic use in their beef supply chains.

“We should all be worried that so many restaurants are failing when it comes to antibiotic stewardship. We need more burger chains to follow the lead of BurgerFi and Shake Shake and commit to protecting our life-saving medicines. Antibiotics are too important to lose and these companies can use their purchasing power to protect our health,” said Bay Scoggin, TexPIRG Ed Fund Director.

Two growing burger chains, Shake Shack and BurgerFi, stand out from the herd when it comes to serving beef raised without the routine use of antibiotics in the burger industry. They were the only restaurants to earn an “A” on the fourth annual Chain Reaction scorecard released today by six major consumer and environmental organizations. The vast majority of hamburger chains — 22 of the top 25, including giants such as McDonald’s — got an “F” grade because they lack established policies restricting antibiotic use in their beef supply chains.